Data extraction Memes

Posts tagged with Data extraction

Which Team Are You In?
Backend Webdev Networking Javascript Programming
11 days ago 93.2K views 0 shares
Which Team Are You In?
The elegant waitstaff vs. the pirates of the digital seas. APIs are the polished professionals of data exchange—neat, documented, and officially sanctioned. Meanwhile, web scrapers are the chaotic renegades who'll pillage your HTML by any means necessary when you refuse to share your data properly. After 15 years in the industry, I've been on both sides. Sure, I'll use your beautiful REST API when available, but catch me at 2 AM cobbling together a janky Python script with BeautifulSoup when your terms of service are too restrictive and my deadline is tomorrow.

The Three Horsemen Of Data Acquisition
Programming Webdev Networking Javascript Python
17 days ago 83.5K views 0 shares
The Three Horsemen Of Data Acquisition
The evolution of data collection in three acts of increasing desperation. First, you've got your fancy waiters (API) - clean, professional, brings exactly what you ordered. Then there's the pirates (scraping) - stealing what you need because the restaurant won't serve you. And finally, the undead hordes (archive.md) - the nuclear option when a site has died but you still need that precious data. It's the developer's journey from "I'd like to make a request" to "I'm breaking into your house at 2am with bolt cutters."

APIs Vs Web Scrapers
Webdev Security Javascript Programming Python
20 days ago 117.6K views 1 shares
APIs Vs Web Scrapers
The elegant waitstaff vs. the ragtag pirates perfectly captures the data access divide. APIs are like fancy servers bringing you data on a silver platter with proper documentation and rate limits. Meanwhile, web scrapers are the digital pirates who'll rip the data straight from the HTML's cold, dead hands when no API exists. After 15 years in the trenches, I've written both. The API is what you show the client. The scraper is what you build at 2 AM when the client's competitor suddenly becomes "very interesting" to them.

The Bell Curve Of Document Parsing Hell
Databases AI Algorithms Programming Python
2 months ago 119.6K views 0 shares
The Bell Curve Of Document Parsing Hell
Oh. My. GOD. The eternal struggle of every data scientist who's ever been handed a Word document and told to "just extract the data" from it! 💀 The bell curve of intelligence is BRUTALLY accurate here. The average schmucks (34% on each side) are blissfully declaring "Word files can't be read by a machine" while the absolute geniuses at both extremes (0.1%!) know the dark arts of table parsing. Meanwhile, every data engineer is in the corner having a nervous breakdown because Karen from marketing just sent over CRITICAL BUSINESS DATA as a beautifully formatted Word table with merged cells. THE HORROR!

The Real Chad: API Consumer vs. Web Scraper
Webdev Networking Security Javascript Programming
2 months ago 159.9K views 0 shares
The Real Chad: API Consumer vs. Web Scraper
The eternal struggle between those who build APIs and those who break them. Up top, we have the "Virgin API Consumer" - shackled by OAuth, rate limits, and the constant fear of a 429 error. Poor soul thinks following documentation is actually making life easier. Meanwhile, the "Chad Third-Party Scraper" lives in digital anarchy. Armed with Selenium, cURL, and an army of captcha-solving minions, this data pirate treats your carefully crafted JavaScript defenses like wet tissue paper. Entire security teams stay awake at night because of this guy's weekend hobby. The irony? Companies spend millions trying to stop scrapers while simultaneously building their own scraping tools. It's the circle of web life.